Video games have been widely distributed for a long time. Users play video games on a certain device (platform). Various platforms have been developed for video games including home game consoles for domestic use, general-purpose personal computers, portable game consoles, mobile phones, Smartphones, and arcade games installed in amusement facilities such as amusement arcades.
Among these platforms, the present application focuses in particular on game consoles for domestic use and general-purpose personal computers which require relatively complicated inputs and for which a relatively large number of similar kinds of game products have been released.
Examples of home game consoles for domestic use include PlayStation 4 (trademark) manufactured and sold by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. and Xbox One (trademark) manufactured and sold by Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. For these game consoles, a dedicated official controller is often bundled or sold as a separate product and users usually play games using an official controller. Although designs for official controllers have widely varied in the past, a dominant design has begun to emerge. This dominant design is a laterally elongated shape which users can hold with both hands. The left side half is equipped with a four-button directional pad that accepts digital inputs and a rod-shaped analog stick for analog inputs that depend on the displacement direction of the stick. The right side half is equipped with four push buttons and another analog stick that is similar to the one just mentioned.
On the other hand, users who play games on a general-purpose personal computer usually enter their inputs by an input device associated with the general-purpose personal computer. This input device is typically a keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination.
Game users are usually adept at inputting their responses through an input device that they are familiar with, and not good at inputting their responses through an input device that they are unfamiliar. In the latter case, users often become stressed when inputting their responses. This means that users who usually play games on a game console become stressed when inputting their responses through a keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination when they play games on a general-purpose personal computer. Likewise, users who usually play games on a general-purpose personal computer become stressed when inputting their responses through an official controller when they play games on a game console.
If a user plays games only on a game console or only on a general-purpose personal computer, that user will not experience the input-associated stress described above. However, whether a game that a user desires to play is compatible with the user's familiar platform (e.g., whether the game that the user desires to play is supported by a software product that is sold or supplied via the Internet) depends on the situation of game suppliers. This restriction prevents some users from playing the games they wish to play, which is disadvantageous not only for the users, but also for the software vendors and suppliers who aim to secure more users.
Users can avoid input-associated stress described above when they are well acquainted with entering input using an input device that they do not normally use. However, gaining such mastery imposes a burden on the user, which again disadvantages the user and compromises the profits of software vendors and suppliers in aiming to secure more users.
From this viewpoint, controllers with similar structures to the official controllers for game consoles for domestic use, but which can be connected to general-purpose personal computers have been proposed and sold. Products of this kind have been sold in large numbers from long ago. The configuration of these controllers follows the dominant design of the official controller, allowing users who usually play games on a game console for domestic use to game on the general-purpose personal computer in a similar way to that they input their responses on an official controller for game consoles for domestic use. Such controllers eliminate, from users who usually play games on a game console but who may wish to play on a general-purpose personal computer, input-associated stress due to a keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination.
Likewise, a controller including a keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination that can be connected to game consoles for domestic use eliminates, from users who usually play games on a general-purpose personal computer but who may wish to play on a game console, input-associated stress due to an official controller for game consoles. However, fewer products of this type are provided.
In most mainstream controllers with a keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination that can be connected to conventional game consoles for domestic use, the input can be entered both through the keyboard only and through the keyboard and the mouse of a keyboard-mouse pair. The keyboard and mouse of such controllers are connected via a cable and cannot be separated. The cable conveys the inputs entered through the mouse to the keyboard. Keyboards, on the other hand, are usually connected to a game console via a cable that differs from the aforementioned cable. The data independently entered through the keyboard and the mouse can be supplied from the keyboard to a game console.